The novel was adapted into a film of the same name, which was released on November 8, 2019, in the United States.
Plot
Following the events of The Shining, after receiving a settlement from the owners of the Overlook Hotel, Danny Torrance remains psychologically traumatized as his mother Wendy slowly recovers from her injuries. The two are living in Florida, but angry ghosts from the Overlook, including Mrs. Massey, the woman from Room 217, still want to find Danny and eventually consume his phenomenal "shining" power. Dick Hallorann, the Overlook's former chef, teaches Danny to create mental lockboxes to contain the ghosts, including that of former Overlook owner Horace Derwent.
As an adult, Danny (now going by Dan) takes up his father's legacy of anger and alcoholism. Dan spends years drifting across the United States, but he eventually makes his way to New Hampshire and decides to give up drinking. He settles in the small town of Frazier on a psychic hunch, working first for the Frazier municipal department and then at the local hospice, and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. His psychic abilities, long suppressed by his drinking, re-emerge and allow him to provide comfort to dying patients. Aided by a cat, "Azzie", that can sense when someone is about to die, Dan acquires the nickname "Doctor Sleep".
In the meantime, Abra Stone, a baby girl born in 2001, begins to manifest psychic powers of her own when she seemingly predicts the 9/11 attacks. She slowly and unintentionally establishes a telepathic bond with Dan through Tony, Dan's childhood "imaginary friend". As she grows, the contact becomes more conscious and voluntary, and her shining grows stronger than even his. One night, Abra psychically witnesses the ritual torture and murder of a young boy, Bradley Trevor, by the True Knot, a group of quasi-immortal nomads who possess their own psychic abilities. The True Knot members wander across the United States and periodically feed on "steam", a psychic essence produced when people who possess the shining die in pain. They refer to their victims as Rubes. The True Knot's leader, Rose the Hat, becomes aware of Abra's existence and formulates a plan to kidnap Abra and keep her alive, making her produce a limitless supply of steam.
The True Knot begin to die off from measles contracted from Bradley Trevor; they believe that Abra's steam can cure them. Abra asks for Dan's help, and he reveals his connection with Abra to her father David and their family doctor, John Dalton. Though angry and skeptical, David agrees to go along with Dan's plan to save Abra. With the help of Billy Freeman, a friend of Dan, they foil and kill a raiding party led by Crow Daddy, Rose's second-in-command. However, Dan realizes that Rose will relentlessly hunt Abra for revenge. He visits Abra's great-grandmother Concetta, who is dying of cancer at the Frazier hospice, and telepathically learns from her that he and Abra's mother, Lucy, are half-siblings with the same father: Jack Torrance. As Concetta dies, Dan takes her diseased steam into himself. Meanwhile, dissension among the True Knot, along with Rose's obsession with Abra, leads to the group splitting up, leaving Rose with even fewer followers.
Following another kidnapping attempt that Abra foils with Dan's telepathic help, she baits Rose into confronting her at the location where the Overlook Hotel once stood in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, now home to a campsite owned by the True Knot. Dan and Billy travel to the site while Abra helps them by using her astral projection. Lying in wait, Dan releases the steam collected from Concetta to the remaining group of True Knot members, killing all of them. He also frees the ghost of Horace Derwent to kill the last member, Silent Sarey, waiting to ambush him and Abra, and the two fight Rose in a long psychic struggle. With help from Billy and the ghost of Dan's father, Jack Torrance, they push Rose off an observation platform so she falls to the ground, breaking her neck and dying. Before leaving the campsite, Dan sees his father wave goodbye, having finally found peace.
In the epilogue, Dan celebrates 15 years of sobriety and attends Abra's 15th birthday party. He tells her about the patterns of alcoholism and violent behavior that run in his family and warns her not to repeat them by starting to drink or submitting to rage. Abra agrees that she will behave, but before they can finish the conversation, Dan is called back to his hospice, where he comforts a dying colleague who had antagonized him in the past.
Background
King described the idea for a sequel to his 1977 novel The Shining on November 19, 2009, during a promotional tour for his novel Under the Dome. During a reading moderated by filmmaker David Cronenberg at the Canon Theatre, King revealed the sequel would follow a character from the original, Danny Torrance, now in his 40s, living in New Hampshire where he works as an orderly at a hospice and helps terminally ill patients die with the aid of extraordinary powers.[2] Later, on December 1, 2009, King posted a poll on his official website, asking visitors to vote for which book he should write next, Doctor Sleep or the next Dark Tower novel:
I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep. Are you interested in reading either of these? If so, which one turns your dials more? [We] will be counting your votes (and of course it all means nothing if the muse doesn't speak).[3]
Voting ended on December 31, 2009. Doctor Sleep won the poll with 5,861 votes to The Wind Through the Keyhole's 5,812.[4]
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, King revealed that he had hired researcher Rocky Wood to work on the continuity between The Shining and Doctor Sleep.[9]
The story was partly inspired by Oscar, a therapy cat who allegedly predicts the deaths of terminally ill patients. King said, "I thought to myself: 'I want to write a story about that.' And then I made the connection with Danny Torrance as an adult, working in a hospice. I thought: 'That's it. I'm gonna write this book.' The cat had to be there. It always takes two things for me to get going. It's like the cat was the transmission and Danny was the motor."[10]
Publication
On May 8, 2012, Stephen King's official website announced a tentative publication date of January 15, 2013, for Doctor Sleep. The book was available for pre-order that same day, with the page count of 544 and ISBN978-1-4516-9884-8. However, the exact date was removed the next day with the statement that a new release date was forthcoming, and the pre-order items were removed. Stephen King was not happy with the present draft of the novel and felt it needed a lot of editing. On September 18, 2012, a publication date of September 24, 2013 was announced.[11][12][13]Cemetery Dance also published Doctor Sleep as a limited edition in three versions: Gift edition (limited to 1,750 copies), Limited edition (limited to 700 copies), and Lettered edition (limited to 52 copies), the latter two signed by Stephen King and the illustrators.[14] On March 1, 2013, Stephen King's official site unveiled the book's cover.[15]
A collector's edition was announced in August 2013 by Hodder & Stoughton for publication in the United Kingdom, limited to 200 numbered copies, signed by Stephen King.[16]
The novel was extensively screened by critics. Steven Poole of The Guardian stated "...Doctor Sleep does not actually deliver the 'good scare' of yore... What the novel lacks in brute fright, though, it makes up for with more subtle pleasures".[18] Alan Cheuse of NPR wrote "A rather neatly designed plot has kicked in even before the book opens.... Stephen King is still scaring the hell out of me."[19]Margaret Atwood in The New York Times commented "Doctor Sleep is Stephen King's latest novel, and it's a very good specimen of the quintessential King blend... King's inventiveness and skill show no signs of slacking: Doctor Sleep has all the virtues of his best work."[20] Kathryn Schulz of Vulture stated, "Much as The Shining was fundamentally about family violence, Doctor Sleep is fundamentally about alcoholism. King, a recovering addict himself, is excellent on addiction and its attendant dysfunctions: deception, self-justification, disregard of others, new-leaf fantasies and their near-instant collapse, the next fix as the North Star. And, conversely, he is excellent on deliberate sobriety. Some of the best parts of Doctor Sleep draw on the culture of Alcoholics Anonymous, which also provides this book's ethical core."[21] James Kidd of The Independent stated "The novel's well-intentioned tale of redemption through sobriety, work and family seems to have profound personal significance for King, himself a recovering alcoholic. Perhaps it is too personal. The Shining had terrified by marrying a recognisable young family to claustrophobia and an unflinching portrayal of a loved one becoming a monster. Doctor Sleep's soupy, supernatural atmosphere reads like horror inspired by fantasy and salvation drawn from therapy. In this, the story doesn't escape its own contrivances."[22] A reviewer of Publishers Weekly added "Less terrifying than its famous predecessor, perhaps because of the author's obvious affection for even the most repellant characters, King's latest is still a gripping, taut read that provides a satisfying conclusion to Danny Torrance's story."[23]
The Washington Post's Keith Donohue wrote, "King is a master of the paranormal thriller, cross-cutting among these three plotlines in short cinematic scenes that give Doctor Sleep its relentless narrative drive. His characters, particularly the baddies, are drawn with an economy that brings them briskly to life. Like some twisted bastard son of the Houses of Lovecraft and Dickens, he is as macabre and entertaining as ever... Despite its many horrors, Doctor Sleep is more assuredly a novel of redemption, well-earned in the end. It won't make you forget Jack Nicholson and his ax, but Doctor Sleep will give you a fresh case of the creeps."[24] Roger Luckhurst of Los Angeles Review of Books stated, "Above all, Doctor Sleep is a novel about addiction and the fight to overcome it... King's vision of the supernatural is something that hovers numinously on the edges of the awareness, something that needs a cautious and respectful watching at all times. There will be skirmishes, minor battles, victories and losses, but no end to the long term war. Exactly like a recovering alcoholic thinks of booze."[25] Colette Bancroft of Tampa Bay Times noted "At just over 500 pages, Doctor Sleep is a bit slimmer than most of King's recent novels, and it barrels along at an accelerating pace. Is it as bone-chillingly scary as The Shining? No, and few books are. But it's plenty creepy, and it's richer in the themes that have come to occupy King more, especially family relationships."[26] A reviewer of Kirkus Reviews called it "satisfying at every level. King even leaves room for a follow-up, should he choose to write one—and with luck, sooner than three decades hence."[27] Joshua Rothman of The New Yorker stated, "The Shining is introspective, austere, and unsettlingly plausible, which is why it comes to mind whenever you visit a creepy hotel, play croquet, or see an angry dad with his kid. But Doctor Sleep, which feels less like a sequel and more like a spinoff, is unapologetically fun, free-wheeling, and bizarre."[28]
A film adaptation of the novel directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Ewan McGregor as Danny Torrance was released on November 8, 2019. The film is both an adaptation of the novel and a sequel to the 1980 film adaptation of the first book. It therefore makes significant changes to the plot in order to preserve continuity with Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation.
Related Research Articles
The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It is King's third published novel and first hardcover bestseller; its success firmly established King as a preeminent author in the horror genre. The setting and characters are influenced by King's personal experiences, including both his visit to The Stanley Hotel in 1974 and his struggle with alcoholism. The novel was adapted into a 1980 film and a 1997 miniseries. The book was followed by a sequel, Doctor Sleep, published in 2013, which in turn was adapted into a film of the same name in 2019.
The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book written by American author Stephen King. Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western, it describes a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series, and its use of the Dark Tower, expands upon Stephen King's multiverse and in doing so, links together many of his other novels.
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. It is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers. Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a new position as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Lloyd plays his young son Danny, who has psychic abilities, which he learns about from head chef Dick Hallorann (Crothers). Danny's imaginary friend Tony warns him the hotel is haunted before a winter storm leaves the family snowbound in the Colorado Rockies. Jack's sanity deteriorates under the influence of the hotel and the residents, and Danny and his mother Wendy (Duvall) face mortal danger.
The Shining is a 1997 three-episode horror television miniseries based on the 1977 Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by Mick Garris from King's teleplay, it is the second adaptation of King's book after the 1980 film by Stanley Kubrick and was written and produced by King based on his dissatisfaction with Kubrick's version. The miniseries was shot at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, King's inspiration for the novel, in March 1996.
Daniel Edward Sidney Lloyd is an American former child actor, best known for his role as Danny Torrance in the horror film The Shining (1980), an adaptation of Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name.
John Daniel Edward "Jack" Torrance is the villain protagonist in Stephen King's horror novel The Shining (1977). He was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the novel's 1980 film adaptation, by Steven Weber in the 1997 miniseries, by Brian Mulligan in the 2016 opera and by Henry Thomas in the 2019 film adaptation of Doctor Sleep. The American Film Institute rated the character the 25th-greatest film villain of all time. In 2008, Jack Torrance was selected by Empire magazine as one of the 100 greatest movie characters. Premiere magazine also ranked Torrance on their list of their 100 greatest movie characters of all time.
Rocky Wood was a New Zealand-born Australian writer and researcher best known for his books about horror author Stephen King. He was the first author from outside North America or Europe to hold the position of president of the Horror Writers Association. Wood was born in Wellington, New Zealand and lived in Melbourne, Australia with his family. He had been a freelance writer for over 35 years. His writing career began at university, where he wrote a national newspaper column in New Zealand on extra-terrestrial life and UFO-related phenomena and published other articles about the phenomenon worldwide, in the course of which research he met such figures as Erich von Däniken and J. Allen Hynek; and had articles on the security industry published in the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and South Africa. In October 2010, Wood was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. He died of complications on 1 December 2014.
Daniel Anthony Torrance, also known as Doc, Danny and later Doctor Sleep, is a fictional character who first appears in the 1977 novel The Shining by Stephen King as a child with psychic powers called "the shining". His parents are father Jack Torrance and mother Wendy Torrance. The character was portrayed in the 1980 film adaptation The Shining by Danny Lloyd and by Courtland Mead in the 1997 television miniseries The Shining.
Room 237 is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Rodney Ascher about interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining (1980) which was adapted from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The documentary includes footage from The Shining and other Kubrick films, along with discussions by Kubrick enthusiasts. Room 237 has nine segments, each focusing on a different element within The Shining which "may reveal hidden clues and hint at a bigger thematic oeuvre." Produced by Tim Kirk, the documentary's title refers to a room in the haunted Overlook Hotel featured in The Shining.
Mr. Mercedes is a novel by American writer Stephen King. He calls it his first hard-boiled detective book. It was published on June 3, 2014. It is the first volume in a trilogy, followed in 2015 by Finders Keepers, the first draft of which was finished around the time Mr. Mercedes was published, and End of Watch in 2016.
Mike Flanagan is an American filmmaker, best known for his horror work. Flanagan wrote, directed, produced, and edited the horror films Absentia (2011), Oculus (2013), Hush, Before I Wake, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald's Game (2017), and Doctor Sleep (2019). He created, wrote, produced, and served as showrunner on the Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Midnight Mass (2021), The Midnight Club (2022), and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), also directing and editing some episodes of each.
The Shining is an American opera in two acts and an epilogue, with music by composer Paul Moravec and a libretto by Mark Campbell, based on the 1977 novel by Stephen King. The opera received its world premiere on May 7, 2016 at the Ordway Music Theater, Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is part of the "New Works Initiative" of Minnesota Opera.
Doctor Sleep is a 2019 American supernatural horror film edited, written and directed by Mike Flanagan. It is an adaptation of the 2013 novel of the same name by Stephen King and sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining. The film stars Ewan McGregor as Dan Torrance, a man with psychic abilities and a drinking problem, who struggles with childhood trauma caused by the horrors at the Overlook Hotel. Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, and Cliff Curtis have supporting roles as new characters: Abra Stone and Billy Freeman team up with Dan to take down Rose the Hat and her gang of followers.
Elevation is a novella by American author Stephen King, published on October 30, 2018, by Scribner. The book contains chapter-heading illustrations by Mark Edward Geyer, who previously illustrated King's first editions of Rose Madder and The Green Mile.
"Midnight, the Stars and You" is a British-American popular foxtrot song written by Harry M. Woods, Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly and published in 1934.
Rose the Hat is a fictional character created by American writer Stephen King. She is the primary antagonist in his 2013 novel Doctor Sleep and in the 2019 film of the same name, in which she's played by Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson.
Richard Hallorann is a fictional character created by Stephen King from his 1977 novel The Shining. He has telepathic abilities he called "the shining" and is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel. He meets Danny Torrance, a young boy who is also telepathic, and learns that the evil spirits of the hotel have taken control of Danny's father, Jack.
Kyliegh Curran is an American actress. She starred in the horror film Doctor Sleep and played Harper on the Disney Channel mystery series Secrets of Sulphur Springs. She previously played young Nala in a Broadway production of The Lion King.
Winnifred "Wendy" Torrance is a fictional character and protagonist of the 1977 horror novel The Shining by the American writer Stephen King. She also appears in the prologue of Doctor Sleep, a 2013 sequel to The Shining.
The Shining is an American supernatural horror media franchise that originated from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The novel was later adapted into a 1980 film and a 1997 television miniseries. King later wrote a 2013 sequel novel, Doctor Sleep, which was adapted to film in 2019.
The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias (2022)
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